First, a little background. Growing up in West Tennessee, I thought of the rest of the state the way most people think of Tennessee in general, that it's all in the mountains.

The western part of the state, though, is the flat part. There are some hills, but they're "rolling", not that high and nothing that you could climb. So, basically, it's the flat part.

Now, let's fast forward to the past eight years of living in the New Orleans area and to let you in on a realization I've had: where I grew up, it was in the hills. This place, Southeast Louisiana is flat. Pancake, flitter, whatever flat description you want to use, it works.

So, as we began the Middendorf's Manchac Race on Saturday, we went over the Old Highway 51 Manchac bridge and it didn't take long to feel pain. Did I mention it's flat here? I mean, right at the starting line, you went up the bridge. It's the first time I can recall seeing people already give up running and start walking 500 feet into a race.

OK, enough whining. Once we got over the bridge and settled in, it was flat as usual. And with the weather we had Saturday morning -- overcast, cool with a slight drizzle -- conditions were better for a race than we've had in a long while.

It was an easy out and back, until you were in the final quartermile when that #$%@& bridge came back into play. But, as a veteran runner pushed me over the top (taunting me with "You're not going to let a 70-year old beat you, are you?"), the finish wasn't that bad.

Matt Manning -- somebody who is actually a fast runner -- won the race at 56:24 and Megan Broussard won the women's division with a time of 1:07.32. Me? I finished with a time that wouldn't have won much older age group. But, I finished. And, ate some good Middendorf's catfish at the end.